Telia in Denmark and Telenor create Denmark’s best network

Telia, TeliaSonera’s subsidiary in Denmark, has entered into a network sharing agreement with Telenor in Denmark to create Denmark’s best mobile network. The companies will also establish a common infrastructure company to operate the joint network. The agreement will have a significant impact on both the customer experience and financial results.

The agreement involves the 2G, 3G and 4G networks, and ambitions for the agreement are high.

“The decision to merge our network investments and network competencies is a milestone. Together, we will create Denmark’s best mobile network and thereby provide the best customer experience for users of smartphones, tablets and mobile broadband”, says Håkan Dahlström, President business area Mobility services, TeliaSonera.

High ambitions in Denmark
With this agreement, the two companies give each other access to existing towers in areas where they would otherwise have had to build their own. In addition, future new mobile towers will be built jointly by Telenor and Telia in Denmark. This will reduce both companies’ spending on mobile infrastructure while at the same time allowing them to expand the joint network more quickly than they would have been able to do on their own.

“TeliaSonera have high ambitions in Denmark. To achieve these ambitions, we need to do two things successfully, we need to provide a world-class customer experience, and we need to secure the scale of our network to ensure that it is profitable to do business in Denmark in the long term. By sharing networks, we are taking a strategically important step on both fronts, making us better prepared to face the competition”, concludes Håkan Dahlström.

Customers will begin to feel the effects of the network partnership right away. As part of the agreement, Telenor and Telia are already in the process of giving each other access to existing 2G and 3G positions within the framework of the mobile tower legislation – as well as planning new joint 2G and 3G positions.

Partners in infrastructure, competitors in products
The partnership only covers the radio access network, i.e. the antennas, towers and transmission equipment that establish connections to mobile units. The partnership does not involve the two companies’ core networks where their services are produced – the core networks will continue to be operated separately. Telia and Telenor will continue as two independent providers and will in future also compete aggressively for customers through different products, services and prices. Telenor and Telia have reported the establishment of the new joint network company to the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority.

TeliaSonera AB discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instrument Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 8 a.m. CET on June 14, 2011.

For more information, please call the TeliaSonera press office 46-771 77 58 30, press@teliasonera.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in the press release relating to future status or circumstances, including future performance and other trend projections are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of TeliaSonera.

TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera helps people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. Our ambition is to be number one or two in all our markets, providing the best customer experience, high quality networks and cost efficient operations. TeliaSonera is also the leading European wholesale provider with a wholly-owned international carrier network. In 2010, net sales amounted to SEK 107 billion, EBITDA to SEK 37.7 billion and earnings per share to SEK 4.73. The TeliaSonera share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.teliasonera.com

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